Judges’ comments:
This three-part documentary is a beautiful, watchable, ambitious look at the spectrum of human emotion and its scientific underpinnings. It s well-organized and well-explained, and lives up to the proud tradition of top-notch PBS NOVA episodes.
1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
This Emotional Life – a three part, six hour documentary television series that aired on PBS in January 2010. Senior Executive Producer, NOVA/WGBH Science Unit Paula S. Apsell Senior Executive Producer, Vulcan Productions Richard Hutton Executive Producers, Kunhardt McGee Productions Dyllan McGee Peter W. Kunhardt Supervising Producer, Vulcan Productions Bonnie Benjamin-Phariss Senior Producer, NOVA/WGBH Science Unit Lisa Mirowitz
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
January 4th, 5th and 6th 2010
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
This Emotional Life unfolds across three two-hour episodes and explores the human desire and struggle for happiness and the ways we can ultimately attain it. The first episode, “Family, Friends & Lovers,” probes the nature of the social relationships that are the key to human happiness. The second program, “Facing Our Fears,” looks at the obstacles to happiness — negative emotions such as fear, anger, anxiety and depression — and what we can do to cope with them. The final program, “Rethinking Happiness,” uncovers new scientific research that is transforming our understanding of this most elusive of emotions. The series is hosted by Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology at Harvard University and author of the best-selling book, Stumbling on Happiness. As This Emotional Life reveals, happiness is not only a universal desire, but, biologically, a universal need. And yet, it evades so many of us. More than half of the 300 million people in the United States experience some type of mental health issue in their lifetimes that stands between them and happiness. This Emotional Life explores why, and in doing so draws upon key insights from the latest in brain and behavioral science. With leading experts from around the world, Dr. Gilbert explores the impact of early nurturing on neural and social development, the growing evidence that cutting-edge treatments for anxiety and depression may literally transform the structure of the brain, and new research on qualities such as resiliency and adaptation that are proving critical to emotional well-being, to name just a few. The programs’ rigorous analysis of the science, however, is presented within an accessible prism of compelling stories, of both ordinary and famous people, who fearlessly and honestly shared their experiences as they underwent major struggles in their own lives. The producers’ extraordinary access to these characters and their intimate and remarkable stories — many of which unfolded over many months — and ability to weave them together with the latest science, created a unique approach that resonated deeply with viewers. The series premiered to critical acclaim and reached a large audience of 9.6 million people. It generated a public dialogue that spread rapidly via social media networks and that continues to grow today. The companion website at www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife has received over 1.8 million visitors, the project’s Facebook page has over 17,000 fans, and the series was in the top ten downloads on iTunes for weeks and remains one of PBS’s top-selling selections. As part of the outreach campaign, we created and are distributing two impact toolkits. The Early Moments Matter toolkit informs parents about the importance of attachment and teaches the skills needed for healthy attachments with children. Thousands are in distribution to hospitals, community centers and through a unique partnership with BabyCenter.com. Over 200,000 copies of The Handbook for Family and Friends of Service Members, developed in partnership with leaders from the U.S. military, are in distribution. The Handbook helps the family and friends of service members through the emotional stressors of the deployment cycle.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
The producers worked with leading experts around the world to uncover the latest scientific research on emotional wellness and the human desire and struggle for happiness. The result yielded a documentary with
a rigorous analysis of science, presented within an accessible prism of compelling stories, of both ordinary and famous people, who fearlessly and honestly shared their experiences as they underwent major struggles in their own lives.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
The program relied upon experts in the field as well as the lives and stories of both ordinary and famous people.
6. Results (if any).
Project Impact This Emotional Life harnesses the power of media, strategic partnerships with leading experts, and grassroots efforts to provide Americans with the newest, most useful science and tools around emotional well-being. PLANNING: The outreach strategy is designed to help Americans learn more about the science and skills around happiness, mental health and emotional wellness, and to take action in their own lives to get the help they need for their emotional journeys, and to offer help to others in need. Outreach began months before the series premiere with efforts to drive viewers to the broadcast and create a community for ongoing dialogue and impact: ” Launched media outreach to major health/science, feature/lifestyle reporters ” Developed web and viral campaign (site links, blogs, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook) ” Produced targeted print and online campaign (paid search, Facebook, organic search) ” Formed unprecedented partnerships with Mayo Clinic, Mental Health America, Blue Star Families, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance and the University of Phoenix. EXECUTION: Broadcast: The series premiered on January 4th — 6th, 2010: ” Reached over 613 million people with awareness marketing campaign. The print, broadcast and radio media relations garnered over 83 million media impressions on an under-reported issue, with coverage from New York Times, Boston Globe, Hartford Courant, Zap2it, NY Daily News, Variety and Denver Post and a featured story on NPR. The web/viral campaign produced over 494 million media impressions with hundreds of mentions in blogs. This Emotional Life garnered over 5 million twitter impressions. Paid advertising through Facebook and display advertising amassed over 31 million impressions. ” Over 18 million Americans connected with the multimedia project in January. The TV series reached 9.6 million unduplicated viewers across its three episodes; the website received over 1M visits in January. There were 53,000 YouTube views of series content. NPR reports reached 7.5M listeners. 156,000 people watched the series online, and it peaked as the 9th most popular TV series on iTunes. The Facebook site exploded from just 200 fans to nearly 15,000 fans during the week of broadcast premiere. Beyond Broadcast: For at least two years following the broadcast, This Emotional Life will continue to provide practical tools, resources and support to help Americans along their journeys to happiness and greater emotional wellness. A robust, bi-directional website at PBS.org (www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife) serves as the online home for the campaign, providing in-depth content and connections for the viewers of the series and beyond. More than 1.8 million visitors have used the site’s resources since its launch in fall 2009, and the site will continue to grow for at least two years after broadcast premiere. The site serves as a hub for an active online community: ” Dozens of experts from academia, entertainment, the federal government and corporate America have contributed to the This Emotional Life blog. o Content ranges from parenting and bullying to posttraumatic stress disorder and meditation o Content is syndicated around the web via a content partnership with The Huffington Post o Hundreds of readers have commented on the blog entries ” 7,000 people subscribe to the bi-monthly This Emotional Life e-newsletter. ” Nearly 17,000 people are actively engaged in the project’s community on Facebook (www.facebook.com/thisemotionallife). ” Monthly webinar events provide access to leading experts from across the spectrum of mental health and wellness topics, and each event is attended by an average of 285 people. Deep Impact: In addition to the broader outreach campaign, we identified two areas with unique potential for direct impact. We developed innovative multimedia toolkits for these two audiences. ” The attachment toolkit, called Early Moments Matter, features print and video tools to inform parents about the importance of attachment and to teach the skills needed for healthy attachments with children: o Available in both Spanish and English o BabyCenter.com., the world’s largest online network for moms reaching 8 million domestically and 20 million internationally, is the major promotional partner for Early Moments Matter. Through BabyCenter, moms will have access to the content, as well as an opportunity to purchase a toolkit. Critical to this strategy is ensuring that new parents who cannot afford the toolkit receive one as part of our unique Pay-It-Forward campaign. For every toolkit sold, one is donated to a mom who cannot afford it. o Thousands of toolkits are in distribution today to hospitals and community centers in at least 12 states ” The Handbook for Family and Friends of Service Members is a toolkit developed in partnership with leaders from the U.S. military, designed to help the family, friends and support network of our country’s service members through the emotional stressors of the deployment cycle. o More than 200,000 handbooks are being distributed to friends and family of U.S. service members around the country through the combined efforts of the Defense
7. Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
No.
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) and corporate donors.This project was developed over a period of five years after a deep research phase.